The United Kingdom has so far invested in 424 projects in Vietnam with a combined capital of US$3.9 billion, ranking 15th out of 140 countries and territories globally that have injected investment into the Southeast Asian nation, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI).

These figures were released by Do Nhat Hoang, director general of the MPI’s Foreign Investment Agency, during a recent trade promotion conference aimed at attracting more UK businesses to invest in the Vietnamese market.

Among the UK – invested projects, the processing and manufacturing sectors take the lead  with 118 projects worth US$1.5 million, followed by the real estate, mining, wholesale and retail sectors.

There are bright prospects ahead in terms of attracting additional investment from the UK, especially following the signing of a free trade agreement between the two countries (UKVFTA) in December 2020, Hoang said.  

In addition, in his opinion, the Vietnamese market represents an attractive destination for several foreign investors due to political stability, high economic growth, competitive production costs, an abundance of human resources, extensive international economic integration, incentive investment policies, along with a strategic geographical location within Southeast Asia.

At present, Vietnam is currently calling for increasing investment in sectors such as renewable energy, the processing & manufacturing industries, biotechnology, and electronics.

Most notably, the country is keen to co-operate with the UK in the field of electronics. It now ranks 12th in the world and third in ASEAN in terms of exporting electronic equipment, with 95% of production value coming from foreign-invested firms.

To facilitate greater foreign investment, especially investment from the UK, Hoang said Vietnam has developed a human resource training scheme to meet the various demands of investors, while improving the local business climate, fine-tuning legal framework, and hosting a number of seminars aimed at strengthening trade exchanges between both domestic and foreign firms.

Source: VOV

• Decree to facilitate science, technology activities
• Multinational e-commerce platforms strengthen their foothold in Việt Nam
• Vietnam Pushes for Digital Customs Transformation to Boost Trade
• Standard Chartered Vietnam and the US promote clean energy investments in Việt Nam
• The trend of green industrial parks in Vietnam